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August | 2011 | 14 k of g in a f p d
  • At the Array

    The beacons and the sweeping beams of the Interdiction Array glittered ahead of me, an out-of-place brightness against the faint dusting of the Void. I sat in the command chair, eyes half-focused on the view outside and half on the image on the overhead monitor. There, the Sun hung faintly against the darkness. Out here, at the edge of the Void, it was but a little brighter than the only slightly dimmer and slightly more distant stars beyond. Still, it was the only Sun I had ever seen in the sky and the thought that I would probably never see it again caused me to doubt once again the course I had sat myself upon. I rested my hands on the controls and noticed that they were shaking slightly. I took a few deep breaths to calm myself and the shaking diminished but did not cease. I sighed. I had been waiting out here too long. Unfastening my harness, I allowed myself to drift upwards out of the seat a bit and stretched. I then punched the heat button on the coffee pod and fumbled for a cigarette. I would have liked something stronger but after several days with no sleep I couldn’t take the chance of getting too relaxed. “At least I’m not talking to myself yet.” I thought, then winced. I had said it out loud. Oops. So much for that. I lit the cigarette and took a deep pull from it. The shaking faded and I released

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  • The Man Behind the Curtain

    When she arrived in the Emerald City, Dorothy and her companions were groomed, dressed and prepared for their encounter with the Great and Powerful Oz. Upon entering his chamber they were awed and frightened by the Great Oz floating before them, wreathed in smoke and flame. Of course, Toto then finds the man behind the curtain who is running the whole thing. Like a villain being unmasked by Scooby and the Gang, the Great and Powerful Oz is revealed to be just a con man from Kansas. The con man then gives her companions what they want and Dorthy is shown that she has the ability to go back home herself and she returns to Kansas. I have always wondered… why is this considered a happy ending? Sure, she is happy to be home at first, but she will wake up the next morning in her black-and-white world, knowing that the bright, colorful world she left behind was only a dream and that the only magic in the world was the work of a man hiding behind a curtain creating an illusion through smoke and mirrors. I’ve been thinking about Dorothy and that man because DragonCon is coming here to Atlanta next week. I’m planning on going this year, for the first time in around a decade. You would think that I, as a long time Atlanta resident and Science Fiction fan, would have been a regular attendee but that hasn’t been the case. Actually, I haven’t been to any

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  • The Morrowind Diaries – Chapter 3

    Chapter 3 – More of the Balmora Thieves Guild Last Seed 22 (Day 7) It was just before dawn when I awakened the next morning and I exited into the cool darkness. A few of the town guard were wandering on their patrols but otherwise I seemed to be the only one yet awake. I was walking towards the gate when I passed the eastern guard tower and thought it may be interesting to climb to the top and view the countryside from there. The lower level of the tower was empty except for some racks on the wall holding a few, basic weapons. I climbed to the next level and found a bunk room with a bored guard standing watch. The guard seemed a bit put out by my arrival but simply told me to be on my way. I was about to do so when something on the top of a closet caught my attention. It seemed to be the hilt of a sword; one of higher quality than any I had yet seen in Morrowind. Obviously it would not be possible for me to examine the sword more closely with the guard in the room so I descended the stairs to the first landing and considered my options. I decided that, while bored, the guard was likely to remain where he was for some time and that my ability at sneaking around was still too slight to allow me to enter the room undetected. I was about

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  • The Morrowind Diaries – Chapter 2

    Chapter 2 – First Explorations and the Balmora Thieves Guild Last Seed 17 (Day 2) Balmora, as seen from the Silt Strider platform The driver awoke me upon our arrival in Balmora. It was still dark and the sky was overcast but the rain had stopped and I could see a few lights in the town as its inhabitants went about their business. Thanking the driver, I descended into the streets of Balmora. A Dark Elf guard was idly keeping watch near the Strider stop and I asked him directions to the South Wall Corner Club. It turned out to be relatively nearby, just across the river to the east. The guard seemed to be in a talkative mood so I asked him more about Balmora. He told me that the town was the council seat of House Hlaalu, one of the three great Dunmer houses. He himself was part of House Hlaalu. He spoke of his desire to maintain order and keep the law and complained that crime seemed to be on the increase, even accusing the Balmora magistrate, one Nolus Atrius, of being on the take. With a sneer, he wondered how Larrius Varro, the Legion Champion from the Moonmoth Legion Fort who had sworn to fight corruption, would react to this. Thanking him for his information, I proceeded east across the river and through a narrow, dark tunnel through a row of buildings. Several crates were stacked in the tunnel and I briefly looked through them, finding

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  • Review – Singularity

    Singularity came out around a year ago but I didn’t get around to picking it up until the Steam sale earlier this summer. In the game you play Special Forces operative Captain Nathanial Renko. You and your partner are sent to the island of Kotorga-12, located off the coast of Russia, to investigate the source of an electromagnetic pulse which disabled an American spy satellite. A second pulse disables the helicopter in which you are riding and you must find your way through the island and uncover the mysteries there in order to escape. For the most part the game is a standard FPS. You run through a more-or-less linear collection of corridors and rooms while fighting enemies and the occasional boss. The game attempts to set itself apart through its story and through a series of puzzles involving something called a “Temporal Manipulation Device” or TMD. The story is interesting. After making your way to shore you soon find that during the Cold War the Soviet Union discovered a substance known as “Element 99” on Katorga-12 and a research installation was built there to uncover its properties. You do this by reading notes and listening to voice logs (left on large reel-to-reel tape recorders) as you make your way through the base. This is probably the most atmospheric part of the game, as you make your way though ruined labs and classrooms. You learn that even though Katorga-12 was presented as a workers paradise, in reality there was a

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  • Let’s Play! – Precursors (Parts 5 & 6)

    Still on the planet Goldin, Treece Crichton demonstrates why he is a pilot and not a commando during a raid on the bandit’s base. He also continues his grand theft buggy streak, wonders how everyone keeps shooting at him without having any weapons, has an inordinate number of grenades thrown at him and finds out that it is apparently all Bush’s fault. Just another day in Precursors.

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  • The Road to Phaedra

    The sun had just gone down when I got to the town gates. Some places closed up tight at sunset but this one looked like it stayed open. There was almost no other traffic and the guard barely glanced in my direction as I passed, instead concentrating on using a torch to light the large beacon over the main entrance. The usual tourist spots were just inside, torchlight streaming from most of them though the burger and coffee joints had their typically anachronistically artificial lighting, the cost of which I suspected would be reflected in their prices. I went a bit further down the main road before taking a side street and finding a smaller place with a more subdued illumination scheme. Inside I found a seat at the end of the bar. The bartender was busy with a couple of guys in typical traveller garb but indicated that he had noticed me with a nod. I settled my pack at my feet while waiting and looked over his current customers. Their gear was a bit too neat and clean and coordinated a bit too well. New on the Road. I winced as the bartender handed them a couple of Buds. Really new then. Previous customers served, he grabbed a towel and came over to where I was sitting. “What’ll you have?” he asked, wiping the towel quickly across the bar in front of me. He glanced over my own clothing as he did. It was similar to what the

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  • The Morrowind Diaries – Chapter 1

    Chapter 1 – Arrival in Morrowind Each event is preceded by prophecy. But, without the hero, there is no event. Last Seed 16 (Day 1) I no longer remember why I was sent to prison. Perhaps I never knew. All my memories are of a long series of days, each like the other, stretching backwards for an unknown number of months or years. When confined to a cell one no longer measures time by the cycles of the sun or the changing of the seasons. Only the rituals of the arrival of food or the removal of the chamber pot exist to mark the passing of time. I ceased to count them long ago. My name is Aldarian, of the Redguard people. Unlike my kin, I was never one to seek the open battle of combat. Instead, I fought battles with my mind and my wits, an Agent who sought information and secrets which would allow me to advance myself and my clan. Perhaps that was my downfall. Perhaps I learned some bit of information that should have been kept secret. It would be impossible for me to know; I knew many such bits of information. Some I reported to my superiors while others I kept for myself. Perhaps I failed to keep one I should have. All I know is that they came for me one night and took me to the Imperial prison where I spent an unknown part of my life. Then, a few days ago, I

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  • Dark Fall: The Journal

    A walkthrough of the game Dark Fall: The Journal

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  • Remembering the Bomb

    There was a time when I knew how the world would end. I grew up in a time when our elementary school would hold nuclear attack drills with the same regularity as they did fire or tornado drills. Regular PSAs on television and radio would remind us to “Duck and Cover!” in the event of a nuclear strike. In college we were dutifully shown the location of our dorm’s fallout shelter and told how to get to it when the seemingly inevitable occurred. In the 1960s and ’70s we knew with a certainty that is hard to describe or even understand now that the world was going to end, and that it would end in fire. I was thinking about this because I’ve been playing through the various DLC for Fallout: New Vegas. The Fallout series of course is set in the aftermath of a global thermonuclear exchange between the US and China. But in the game the war was long ago; 200 years ago in the case of New Vegas. Much of the world is a wasteland but civilization is slowly recovering. (More slowly than I think it should be, but that’s a quibble for a different post.) In New Vegas life in the Mojave Wasteland is tough, but life is going on. In fact, it seems to be a great, exciting place for adventure. The horror that brought this world into existence is almost an afterthought. Almost. Then I started playing Honest Hearts. First nuke hit SLC inside

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